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The Federal government of Canada has approved the construction of the C$7.4bn (US$5.5bn) Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project, that it acquired from Kinder Morgan for C$4.5bn (US$3.4bn) in 2018. The 1,150-km long pipeline expansion project would twin the existing Trans Mountain line, which transports approximately 300,000 bbl/d of crude oil and refined petroleum products from the oil sands deposits in Alberta to Vancouver (British Columbia) and to the Washington State (United States). The proposed expansion project would raise transport capacity to 890,000 bbl/d and would significantly increase crude tanker traffic off the Canadian west coast.

The project was rejected by the Canadian Federal court of appeal in September 2018 on grounds that government had failed to consider the concerns of some First Nations. However, the Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) estimated in early 2019 that its completion was in the Canadian public interest and should be approved. The project will have to comply with over 160 conditions covering a wide array of issues such as environmental protection, pipeline safety and integrity, commercial support for the project and financial responsibility. Construction could start later in 2019 and the project could be commissioned as of 2022.

Ghana plans to allow private companies to supply power to domestic consumers as of 2023, which was until now reserved to the Power Distribution Services (PDS). PDS will operate the network as a distribution companies. This measure is aimed at creating competition and to make the cost of power more competitive.

According to the European Commission, 8 of the 28 member countries plan to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2030: France by 2022, Ireland and Italy by 2025, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal by 2030.

The German federal energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur has published the results of the tender for 150 MW of solar systems held on 1 June 2019, which was largely oversubscribed, with 105 bids totalling 556 MW. Fourteen bids with a combined solar power capacity of 205 MW were awarded, two thirds of which were located in Mecklenburg Vorpommern, northern region of Germany.

According to the French Interprofessional Technical Center for Air Pollution Studies (CITEPA), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in France declined by 4.2% to 445 MtCO2eq (excluding Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF)), thanks to a decline in GHG emissions from the transport sector (the first since 2013, in a context of economic growth).

Dutch transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT is moving ahead with laying the subsea section of the 1,400 MW NordLink interconnector project in the German part of the North Sea. The €1.5-2bn projects comprises a bipolar high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea interconnector, which will spread across 623 km between Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) and Tonstad (Norway).

The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway is considering opening the area of Utsira Nord outside the coast of Rogaland and on the southern area of Sørlige Nordsjø II for applications on floating offshore wind.

Anadarko and its partners in Mozambique’s Offshore Area 1 have made a positive Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Mozambique LNG project. The project will be the first liquefaction project in Mozambique, tapping gas reserves of the Golfinho/Atum fields located within Offshore Area 1, estimated to hold more than 2,100 bcm or 12 Gboe.